William hezstey skeeeitt



(No Model.)

W. H. SKERRITT. ELEVATOR HATGHWAY GOVBR.

Patented Feb. 3, 1885.

Nrrn 'reres arar FFlCE XVILLIAM HENRY SKERRITT, OF J EBSEY CITY, NEW J ERSEY.

ELEVATOR-HATCHWAY COVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 3111580, dated February 3, 1885.

A pplicaiion filed Augustls, 1894. (No model To all whom it may concrn:

Be it known that LWILLIAM HENRY Sunn- RITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county ol" Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator-Hatchway Covers, of which the following isa specification.

The object otnyinvention is to provide an improved manner and means ofhinging and operating the hatch-covers inthc several floors of a building through which an elevator runs,and which shall obviate the necessity of making such covers in two separate parts, in orderto enable them to be raised and lowered without interfcring with the elevator guideposts, and by which all the covers of the hatohway may be opened or closed simultaneously and with uniform resistance to the force applied in hoisting, regardless ofthcirangle of elevation. For these purposes the invention comprises a hinging device by which the cover, when being raised, receives a lateral as well as the ordinary vertically-circular movement, and is thus slid away from possible contact with the guide-posts, thereby enabling it to be` raised from the horizontal to a fully-vertical position, so as to allow the elevator to pass it; also, the combination, with a chain or rope having a counter-weight and connected by branch chains or ropcs to all the covers of the same hatchway, of a winding-drum formed of a double fusee, or of one ncreasing and one decreasing arithmetically spiral groove, and suitable gearing whereby the leverage of the force applied is varied in exact proportion to the weight, thus rendering the resistancc and the required force uniform.

The nvention will be 'ully explained in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a plan view of my hatchcover closed, the vertical posts being shown in section taken on line a; x of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a side View with the hatchdoor open, and seen in the direction of arrow l ot' Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a general elevational viewshowing a series of hatchwaycovers partly opened and the manner ofconnecting them so as to be operated simultaneously. Fig. 4 is a detail section on liney y of Fig. 2, looking down in the direction of arrow 2, and showing the device by which the cover 'eceives a lateral or sliding movement by being turned on its hinges.

A is one of the hatchcovers.

B B' are the guide-posts for the elevator, the elevator and its suspension-rope being shown in Fig. 3,and desigiated by the letters bb', respectively.

(J is the chain or rope by which the covers A are raised.

In order to operate all the covers simultaneously I secure the lower end of the chain C to the first or lowest cover, A, and thence run it underneath and partly around a pulley, d, in or at the side of the hatchway, thence bring t up above and partly around a larger pulley, D, underneath the roof or top floor of the building, thence down, asindicated by G', to the ground-i'loor, where its end is secured to the windingdrum or Windlass. Thence a chain, C, attached with its lower end to the said drum, is carried up above and partly around a pulley, D', similar to the pulley D, and arranged suitabl y near to the latter, thence down again a. sufficient distance to allow attaclng to it a weight, E, countei'balancing the combined weights of the covers and pieces of chain not balanced by the chain itself. Each cover above the first one is then connected to the chain O by an anxiliary or branch chain, c, running underneath and partly around side pulleys, d', similar to the pulley d, before described. The chains c and pulleys d' are so arrangcd that when the covers are raised in their vertical position the point of attachment of the chain c to the main chain C has about reached the under side of the next oeiling above. W'here this cannot be Conveniently done with the uppcrmost cover, owing to the location of the pulley D too far below the uppermost ceiling, I carry the chain c above and partly around the pulley d', thence down underneath and partly around another pulley, c, before I secure its end at c' to the chain O, thereby allowing the point of attachment c' sufficient travel to raise the cover in a vertical position before reaching the pulley D.

F is the winding-drum, its shaft being mounted in suitable bearings upon posts G, or other framework, and provided with a cogwheel, H, in which is geared a pinion, I, having a wnch, J, upon the end of its shaft, wherewith toturn it and to revolve the drum F with an effect proportional to the difference in size between the said pinion :and wheel I and H. The drum C is composed of two fusees or cones having each a spiral groove upon its surface, and joined together at the base. The chain G' is Secured to the drum F atits smallest diameter, or at the beginning of the spiral groove on the fusee f, and similarly is attached to the fusee f the chain C. The chains are wound relatively to each other, as in Fig. 1, the chain C winding off from the largest diameter of the fuseef', while the chain C' at the same time begins to wind on from the smallest diameter of the fusee f, and vice versa, when the movement is in the opposite direction. The effect is that when the covers are down in their horizontal position, thus requiring the greatest power to raise them, their weight is acting upon the smallest lever or radius of the drum, while the counterbalancing-weight E is acting upon the largest lover or radius of the said drum, and gradually as the covers ascend, and thus give less resistance, their leverage on the drum increases, while at the same time the leverage of the weight decreases in the same proportion, and thus the power needed to be applied on the winch J is uniform, regardless of the variation in the angle ofelevation of the covers A.

In order to enable elevaior-hatchwaycovers to'be swung open without interfering with the posts B, 'they have generally heretofore been made in two separate parts by dividing the cover diagonally from one post to the other; but to obviate making the cover in two parts and yet enable them to be raised clear of interference with the posts B, I provide the following simple Construction: The hngepins h are secured to lugs on a plate, t', fastened to the floor or frame-work at theside of the hatch, and the straps g, novable upon the said hingepins h, are secured to the cover A, (or the pin and plate h i may be attached to the cover and the strap to the floor.) The hinge-pinis made as much longer than the width ot' the strap i as the distance marked a in Fig. l-that is to say, as the length of the lateral movement ot' the cover needed to make it clear the post B. The rise of the front edge of the cover A needed to clear the post B'farthest away from the hinges-being ,as many times more rapid than the rise of the cut-out rear edge at a as the measure marked a is times larger-than the measure a', and the eye of the hinge being a little above the surface of the cover when closed, the front edge will have risen snfficiently to allow it to be ready to clear the post B by a lateral movement before the cut-out rear edge has risen sufiiciently to become perceptiblynea'rer the post B. A slot, a curved to correspond with the combined lateral and vertical movement, is cut in the cover from the central hole through which the suspensionrope b' passes, and clear out to the front edge, so as to prevent interference with the rope or cable b'. To effecta latral movement I swivel bya pin, m, through aplate, N, secured to the post B of the stationary support, a lug, M, and in a similar manner byapin, m through aplate, N', secured to the cover A, I swivel a lug, M'; to the said lugs M M', I hinge the jaws L L', respectively, (see Fig. 4,) and to the said hinge-jaws I swivel by pins k a rod, K. By arranging the swivel-pin m a distance above the hinge-pins proportionate to the length of the lateral movement required, and attaching the other swivel, m',to the cover an equal distance from the hinge-pin, so that when the cover is open, as in Fig. 2, the hinge-pin h and the rod K Will be about parallel with each other and lie in about the same plane, the end of the rod K, which is attached to thejaw L', will describe a circular curve,or rather a curve such as is forned by the intersection of a conc and' a sphere having the same center, on the downward movement, pulling the cover to slide toward the 'left on the hinge-pins, and on the upward movement of the cover pushing it toward the right the reguired distance, a.

Instead of by the rod K the lateral movement might be produced by hinging the strap (1 upon a hinge-pin having a spiral groove or thread; but the large pitch required of the said thread in order to produce the hrge lateral movement required from a very small turn of the hinge would make such a devicc attendant with too much l'riction to be practical.

Other devices may be employed, but that shown in the drawings is the most practical and works to perfect Satisfaction.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a hinged hatchcover, A, and a stationary part ot' the hatchway, the lugs M M', swiveled, respectively, to the said stationary part and to thesaid cover, the jaws L L', hinged to the said lugs M M',

respectively, and the rod K, swiveled with its g ends to the said jaws, the pintles of the said hatch-cover hinges being sufficiently longer than the hinge-straps to allow of the lateral movement desired, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of one or more or a series of hatchway-covers, A, awnding-drum, F, consisting of two fusees, ff', and two ropes or chains,`0 O, Suspended on suitable pul|eys,D D', the rope C being attached to the said covers, and with one end to o'ne of the said fusees, and the rope C being attached with one end to the other fusee, and having a counter-weight, E, attached to its free' pendentend, substantially as and for the purpose set fortl.

In testi mony that I claim the foregoing as my invention'I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 13th day of- August, 1884.

VVILLIAM HENRY SKERRITT.

`Witnessesz A. W. ALMQVIST, s A. C. CROSSMAN. 

